IE48662B1

IE48662B1 - A confirmatory card and a method of and apparatus for producing the card

Info

Publication number: IE48662B1
Application number: IE2224/79A
Authority: IE
Original assignee: Ruwa Bell Sarl
Priority date: 1978-11-21
Filing date: 1979-11-20
Publication date: 1985-04-03
Also published as: FR2442480A1; DE2912366A1; GB2038240B; IE792224L; FR2442480B1; GB2038240A; DE2912366C2; CH646647A5; NL7907026A; LU81049A1; BE874783A

Abstract

A confirmatory card is made by a method in which an offset printing block is used to print data 18 and other information 19 on to a PVC film 17, which may also carry indicia produced by printing or perforation or other means. The film 17 is enclosed between two other PVC films 20 and 21, of which at least one may be equipped with a magnetic strip bearing coded data, and the three films 17, 20, and 21 are inseparably joined together by heat and pressure. <IMAGE>

Description

This invention is concerned with the field of credit and other confirmatory cards and in particular with a method of and apparatus for producing such cards.

At present several types of confirtnatory cards of plastic 5 material exist, especially in the form of credit cards, membership cards of a sports or other association, subscription cards and the like, which are generally constituted by a support of plastic material and possibly by a laminated photograph welded on the said support, this support further comprising other personal indications such as an address, an account or registration number, etc. Plastic cards bearing the various indications in the form of surface engravings also exist.

However, these existing cards can relatively easily be falsified for example by unsticking and replacement of the photograph or by complete copying of a card and changing of certain engraved data. k The present invention aims to reduce these drawbacks.

According to one aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for the production of a personalised or other confirmatory card, said method comprising the steps of printing on a polyvinyl chloride foil in a preliminary phase; producing a basic printing block from a series of data such as photographs and signatures, cutting out this printing block and sticking it on a base plate which is equipped with printed information deriving from a data processor magnetic tape; producing a final printing block from the plate thus obtained; transferring the 4-8663 said block by offset printing on to the polyvinyl chloride foil, providing the obtained foil, which will form the core of the card, on both sides with a transparent protective film of polyvinyl chloride, the lower film being equipped with a magnetic strip; welding these films on to the core and then stamping out and coding the obtained cards.

Another aspect of the invention provides apparatus for carrying out the above-described method which comprises a machine for the prior printing of the polyvinyl chloride foils, a device for producing basic printing blocks, a data processor for printing a first series of data upon the blocks, a device for producing final blocks, a device for offset printing of the polyvinyl chloride foils by means of the final blocks, a device for heat-welding the protective films of polyvinyl chloride under pressure on to the polyvinyl chloride foils, a device for stamping out the cards and a device for coding each card.

Furthermore, another aspect of the invention provides a personalised card or other confirmatory card obtained by application of the abovedescribed method by the above-described apparatus, comprising a polyvinyl chloride foil, bearing the basic data and the printed information, and two transparent protective films of polyvinyl chloride, of which the film covering the back of the card is equipped with a magnetic strip bearing coded data.

The invention will be explained in greater detail hereinafter in the following description related to a preferred form of embodiment, given by way of non-limitative example, with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, wherein:3 Figure 1 is a block diagram of apparatus for producing cards in accordance with the invention; and Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of a card obtained by application of the method according to the invention.

In accordance with the invention and as shown more particularly by way of Figure I of the accompanying drawings, the method for producing personalised or other confirmatory cards consists in printing, in a preliminary phase, a polyvinyl chloride foil 1 by means of a printing machine 2, the impressions carried on to the foil being information of general nature common to a whole series of cards, such as the designation of a credit organisation or the like. In an operation which can be conducted in parallel therewith a first printing block 3 is produced bearing a set of data 4, such as identity photographs and signatures. This operation has the purpose of half-tone screening the identity photographs so as to render them suitable for reproduction by offset printing. The block 3 thus obtained is then stuck to a base plate 5 which is previously equipped, by means of known composition devices, with personal information 6 deriving from a magnetic tape 7 of a data processor.

From this base plate 5 by means of an electrostatic camera 8 equipped with a density programmer a final block is obtained which is directly reproducible by an offset printing machine 9. The latter is supplied by the foil 1, on which then the final print is effected with the aid of thermo-dryable offset ink. The foil T thus obtained is then laminated, that is to say it is provided on both faces with a transparent protective film 10-11 of polyvinyl chloride, the film 11 comprising a magnetic strip. These films are welded to the foil 1' by means of a pressure heat-welding device 12. At the exit from the device 12 the individual cards 13 are cut with the aid of a stamping-out assembly 14, then directed towards a coding device 15 in which various indications appropriate to each card, such as name and address or the like, are printed in relief, and further information deriving from a data processor magnetic tape, such as personalised codes, are entered on the magnetic strip of the film 11. After this later operation the various cards can be packaged in a device 16 known per se for the purpose of despatch to the utilising organ'sations.

The invention includes a card obtained by application of the method according to the invention, by the above-described means. Such a card, represented in Figure 2, is constituted essentially by a polyvinyl chloride foil 17 carrying the basic data 18 and the printed information 19, and by two transparent protective films 20 and 21 of polyvinyl chloride, of which the film 21 for protecting the back is equipped with a magnetic strip bearing coded data.

By virtue of the invention it is possible to produce a card which cannot be falsified, by reason of the integral welding without possibility of subsequent separation, of its component parts. Likewise it is not possible subsequently to modify the card by addition of a foil, since the cooling of plastic cards definitively fixes the welded substances, which thus can no longer be assembled with other materials without risk of deformation of the basic card.

The invention is not of course limited to the form of embodiment as described and represented in the accompanying drawings, modifications remain possible without thereby departing from the scope of protection of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for the production of a personalised or other confirmatory card, said method comprising the steps of printing on a polyvinyl chloride foil in a preliminary phase; producing a basic printing block from a 5 series of data such as photographs and signatures, cutting out this printing block and sticking it on a base plate which is equipped with printed information deriving from a data processor magnetic tape; producing a final printing block from the plate thus obtained; transferring the said block by offset printing on to the polyvinyl chloride foil, 10 providing the obtained foil, which will form the core of the card, on both sides with a transparent protective film of polyvinyl chloride, the lower film being equipped with a magnetic strip; welding these films on to the core and then stamping out and coding the obtained cards.

2. Apparatus for carrying out the method according to claim 1, said 15 apparatus comprising a machine for the preliminary printing of the polyvinyl chloride foils, a device for producing basic printing blocks, a data processor for printing a first series of data on to the blocks, a device for producing final blocks, a device for offset printing of the polyvinyl chloride foils by means of the final blocks, a device for 20 heat-welding the protective films of polyvinyl chloride under pressure on to the polyvinyl chloride foils, a device for stamping out the cards and a device for coding each card.

3. Apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the device for producing final printing blocks is constituted by an electrostatic camera 25 equipped with a density programmer. 4. -8662

4. A confirmatory card obtained by application of the method according to claim 1 in apparatus according to claim 2, said card comprising a polyvinyl chloride foil, bearing the basic data and the printed information, and two transparent protective films of 5. Polyvinyl chloride, of which the film for protecting the back of the card is equipped with a magnetic strip bearing coded data.

5. A method for producing a confirmatory card according to claim 1 and substantially as hereinbefore described.

6. Apparatus for producing a confirmatory card, substantially as 10 hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 1 of the drawings.

7. A confirmatory card, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings.